Unrepaired streetlights frustrate Lambton residents

by Cllr. Alta de Beer — DA Councillor for Ward 39 in Ekurhuleni

Date: 20 May 2021

Release: Immediate

Type: Media statement

Residents of Lambton in Ekurhuleni have been left frustrated by broken streetlights, which have not been repaired since they stopped working in November 2020, creating an unnecessary security risk in the area.

After numerous ignored attempts to report the issue to the Metro, a particular resident was left with no choice but to seek assistance from the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni, who subsequently escalated the issue to the Department of Energy.

What ensued was months of unanswered emails to the Department, and empty promises from the call centre in attending to the broken streetlights, leading to further escalations to both the City Manager, Dr. Imogen Mashazi, and the Executive Mayor, Cllr. Mzwandile Masina, which were predictably ignored.

The residents of Lambton are not the only ones who been on the receiving end of poor service delivery under the current administration of the ANC and their coalition partners* in the City of Ekurhuleni. It is not unusual for a ward councillor to receive close to 500 streetlight complaints a week, while the CoE disingenuously reports a 80,69% completion rate according to a ward report — this number is derived from the call centre closing the complaint and does not reflect whether an issue was rectified on the ground. Other areas affected by the streetlight backlog are Elsburg, Dinwiddie, Delville, Mimosa and Parkhill Gardens.

In reality, however, the CoE only has one bakkie and five staff members appointed to fix streetlights across the Metro. In addition, a contractor appointed by the CoE to fix the streetlights was supposed to start in February 2021, but for unknown reasons has not started work.

The DA in Ekurhuleni empathises with the community of Lambton and is doing everything in its power to compel the ANC-led coalition in the CoE to urgently address the major backlog of streetlights in our communities. The Party will continue to put pressure on the Department of Energy and hold them to account to ensure that residents get the service delivery that has been badly lacking under the current administration.

#TimeForChange

*Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)

Cllr. Alta de beer

DA Councillor for Ward 39 in Ekurhuleni